Rust pits

Have a Ford 1100 (approx. 1980). Do NOT plan to restore to like-new, but want to refinish renders to protect from further rusting. There are many pits with rusty "flowers" in the white paint. Expect that stripping to bare will show up the pits. Will approach this in the summer when conditions are good for painting. Plan to use the Ford paint in spray cans.
Overall, paint is pretty good, except one spot on top of hood where something has created a long crease in the sheet metal, with a bit of rust now showing. No experience with sheet metal work, but would be willing to try bumping out if those of you out there with experience think it could be done. The Ford blue paint is available in spray cans, and I would be willing just to touch up the spot even though the new paint might be obvious. This is not an heirloom (not yet, anyhow)--I use it for a couple of hours every week in the summer with a 3-point mower--but I would like to preserve the sheet metal and also make it look a little better. My main concern right now is the pits, and I'd appreciate any advice from you fellows out there who do this kind of restoration.

The Ford's a great little machine and I might even get to love it enough to want to do a complete restoration! The two-cylinder engine is a little rough at low speeds, but then I can slow it down from 2700 to 1250 and pretend it's a JD B!! Thanks for any info.

You are wise to be concerned about pits. About 8 years ago I was sand blasting and painting a dump truck body that had bad pits where moisture got under the paint. I was not doing a fancy job but I was getting good paint matched to the cab and epoxy primer. The man at the paint jobber told me that I needed to use acid wash before priming or the rust would come back out of the pits even though I was sure that I had them clean. So I used the acid wash and the paint job has held up. If you are going to use rattle cans, don't get too carried away with prep.

Thanks for the advice. Does the epoxy primer fill the pits? Are there other fillers that work (maybe sanded down to level before doing an overall primer coat?)

(quoted from post at 18:47:45 11/08/13) Thanks for the advice. Does the epoxy primer fill the pits? Are there other fillers that work (maybe sanded down to level before doing an overall primer coat?)

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Epoxy primer won't fill the pits. After priming you can use a body filler, I think called glazing putty, which is intended to be applied only very thinly. You can also use primer surfacer over the epoxy primer. It goes on quite thick and would do a good job on pits that aren't real deep.